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Poster: | stratocaster | Date: | Jun 3, 2011 8:15pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: The last of the 'very good' Grateful Dead shows |
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Poster: | bkidwell | Date: | Jun 4, 2011 3:09am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: The last of the 'very good' Grateful Dead shows |
In general I think the conventional wisdom that the post-retirement years are a steady decline and the 90s are unlistenable is a mishearing. I think that 76-94 are actually all about equally good/bad with peaks in 77 and 90. Despite its low reputation, I think 94 is mostly disliked because of the quasi-acoustic jerry tone, some problems with cutler's mixing habits and some heavy rotation of Easy Answers, Phil singing, and Vince tunes, and despite its high reputation, I think 78 is a year with a lot of really ugly, grating playing - all those solos with unnecessary fanning.
People often seem to express near-shame for discussing 90s Dead, but I think once you step outside the Sacred Garden of 68-74, there are different strengths and weaknesses in every year.
The idea that "older is better" has been established in deadhead circles forever, and I think the level of purely musical understanding is partially obscured by cultural issues. Everybody knows that the Acid Tests, the original SF ballrooms, the Fillmore East, have legendary status in the story of the band, and those who were fortunate enough to have experienced the first and strongest bolts of lightning are certainly testifying truly that it has "never been the same since!"
At the same time, the arc of the story - the themes of the 30-year symphony - stayed dynamic to the end, and I think that we can find some compelling narrative for the end days as well. The Ticketless Hordes and the Decline of Jerry may not put the same smile on your face that Pigpen did, but sorrow and darkness are a powerful theme in art, and in the band's music.
Along with the bright memories some have of Pig matchmaking the audience, the recollection of the spell of late Garcia ballads has a place. A lot of tenor's voices get "bigger" as they age and this held true for Jerry - the rasp cannot disguise the fact that the old & fat Jerry could make a much louder sound with his voice than he could in the early years, and he learned to use this to great effect in songs like Standing on the Moon, where he would dig deep into the "be with you" refrain and improvise with his voice, while the band was inspired to match his passion with almost orchestral crescendos.
The deterioration of "the scene" and Jerry's health problems served to make these moments all the more intense, because the hard-core of heads who deeply loved the band were hoping so hard for things to be OK, and sometimes at shows there was an almost palpable sense of "cmon Jerry, you can do it!" and a kind of ecstatic relief when he rose to the occasion and pulled out an intense "Stella Blue."
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Poster: | Jobygoob | Date: | Jun 6, 2011 7:51am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: The last of the 'very good' Grateful Dead shows |
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Poster: | deadmax | Date: | Jun 4, 2011 7:16am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: The last of the 'very good' Grateful Dead shows |
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Poster: | dark.starz | Date: | Jun 4, 2011 4:17pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: The last of the 'very good' Grateful Dead shows |
This post was modified by dark.starz on 2011-06-04 23:17:14
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Poster: | Cliff Hucker | Date: | Jun 4, 2011 5:55pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: The last of the 'very good' Grateful Dead shows |
How would you know Kochman? Jer already had one foot in his grave by the time you got on the bus.
"Any show attended will always hold a personal bias, yes?"
No, nNot if it was a real stinker from the 1980's...